Available in 3CD or 6x10” vinyl formats, TOY (TOY:BOX) is a special edition of the TOY album. The ‘capture the moment’ approach of the recording sessions are extended to the sleeve artwork designed by Bowie featuring a photo of him as a baby with a contemporary face. The package also contains a 16-page full-colour book featuring previously unseen photographs by Frank Ockenfels 3.
The seeds of TOY were first sown in 1999 during the making of an episode of VH-1 Storytellers. David wanted to perform something from his pre-‘Space Oddity’ career, so he reached back to 1966 and dusted off ‘Can’t Help Thinking About Me’ for the first time in thirty years. The song remained in the setlist for the short promotional tour for the ‘hours…’ album, and in early 2000 David and producer Mark Plati compiled a list of some of Bowie’s earliest songs to re-record.
TOY finishes with a new song from which the album takes its title, 'Toy (Your Turn To Drive)’ was constructed from a jam at the end of one of the live takes of ‘I Dig Everything’. The track is based around rearranged sections of Sterling Campbell's drums, Gail Ann Dorsey's bass and sections of Mike Garson’s piano were looped along with a guitar line of Earl Slick’s that was sampled, time stretched and used as a repeating figure. Lastly, some of Holly and Emm’s backing vocals from the body of ‘Dig Everything’ were cut up and reassembled. Producer Mark Plati "As it was culled from ‘I Dig Everything’ it makes sense to bookend the album with this track - it’s also a fitting postscript to the TOY era”.
Included in TOY:BOX is a second set of 10”s of alternative mixes and versions including proposed B-Sides (versions of David’s debut single ‘Liza Jane’ and 1967’s ‘In The Heat Of The Morning’), later mixes by Tony Visconti and the ‘Tibet Version’ of ‘Silly Boy Blue’ recorded at The Looking Glass Studio time at the of the 2001 Tibet House show in New York featuring Philip Glass on piano and Moby on guitar.
The third set of 10”s features 'Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric’ mixes of thirteen TOY tracks. Producer Mark Plati "While we were recording the basic tracks Earl Slick suggested that he and I overdub acoustic guitars on all the songs. He said this was a Keith Richards’ trick, sometimes these guitars would be a featured part of the track, and at other times they’d be more subliminal. Later while mixing, David heard one of the songs broken down to just vocals and acoustic guitars; this gave him the idea that we ought to do some stripped-down mixes like that and that maybe one day they'd be useful. Once we put a couple of other elements in the pot, it felt like it could be a completely different record. I was only too happy to finish that thought some two decades after the fact”.
DAVID BOWIE – TOY (TOY:BOX) 10” VINYL BOXSET
10” no. 1
Side 1
I Dig Everything
You've Got A Habit of Leaving
The London Boys
Side 2
Karma Man
Conversation Piece
Shadow Man
10” no. 2
Side 3
Let Me Sleep Beside You
Hole In The Ground
Baby Loves That Way
Side 4
Can't Help Thinking About Me
Silly Boy Blue
Toy (Your Turn To Drive)
10” no. 3
Side 5
Liza Jane
You've Got A Habit of Leaving (alternative mix)
Baby Loves That Way (alternative mix)
Side 6
Can't Help Thinking About Me (alternative mix)
I Dig Everything (alternative mix)
The London Boys (alternative version)
10” no. 4
Side 7
Silly Boy Blue (Tibet version)
Let Me Sleep Beside You(alternative mix)
In The Heat Of The Morning
Conversation Piece (alternative mix)
Side 8
Hole In The Ground (alternative mix)
Shadow Man (alternative mix)
Toy (Your Turn To Drive) (alternative mix)
10” no. 5
Side 9
In The Heat Of The Morning (Unplugged & somewhat slightly electric mix)
I Dig Everything (Unplugged & somewhat slightly electric mix)
You've Got A Habit of Leaving (Unplugged & somewhat slightly electric mix)
Side 10
The London Boys (Unplugged & somewhat slightly electric mix)
Karma Man (Unplugged & somewhat slightly electric mix)
Conversation Piece(Unplugged & somewhat slightly electric mix)
10” no. 6
Side 11
Shadow Man (Unplugged & somewhat slightly electric mix)
Let Me Sleep Beside You (Unplugged & somewhat slightly electric mix)
Hole In The Ground (Unplugged & somewhat slightly electric mix)
Baby Loves That Way (Unplugged & somewhat slightly electric mix)
Side 12
Can't Help Thinking About Me (Unplugged & somewhat slightly electric mix)
Silly Boy Blue (Unplugged & somewhat slightly electric mix)
Toy (Your Turn To Drive) (Unplugged & somewhat slightly electric mix)
TOY MUSICIANS:
David Bowie: lead & backing vocals, Korg Triton
Sterling Campbell: drums, claps
Gail Ann Dorsey: bass, clarinet, backing vocals
Mike Garson: piano, organ, synth, Fender Rhodes
Emm Gryner: backing vocals, clarinet
Holly Palmer: backing vocals, percussion
Mark Plati: acoustic & electric guitars, bass, Mellotron, backing vocals
Earl Slick: acoustic & electric guitars
Augmented by the following musicians on certain recordings:
Tony Visconti: bass, string arrangements
Lisa Germano: violin, accordion, mandolin, recorder, backing vocals
Gerry Leonard: electric guitar
Cuong Vu: trumpet
Strings - The Scorchio Quartet
Moby - electric guitar
Philip Glass – piano
